Audio choppy/delayed on Windows Host

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Windows hosts.
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Skummer101
Posts: 4
Joined: 11. Sep 2018, 19:13

Audio choppy/delayed on Windows Host

Post by Skummer101 »

Greetings,

Recently I have moved from VMware Workstation over to VirtualBox.

I am experiencing issues with the audio on an Ubuntu Mate 18.04 Guest; Windows 8.1 as the host.

The sound is choppy and almost as if it is lagging behind. I have an Ubuntu Mate 18.04 Host that does not have this issue with any sort of Guest; Windows or Linux.

This issue occurs when I have earbuds connected to the host itself (Host: Windows DirectSound - Controller: Tried them all)

If I connect my Logitech USB head set and redirect the head set from the host to the guest; the sound is perfect.

VBox version 5.2.18 r124319 (Qt5.6.2) - VBox extension pack 5.2.18.

I have also tried the usual: Single CPU, Disabling I/O ACIP, Disabling Acceleration, Disabling 3D Acceleration, etc etc.

Any help would be great (ording USB to Headphone jack adapters in the mean time.)
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Audio choppy/delayed on Windows Host

Post by mpack »

Please post a VM log file. With the VM fully shut down, right click and "Show Log" in the GUI, save "VBox.log" (no other file) to a zip, and attach the zip here.
Skummer101
Posts: 4
Joined: 11. Sep 2018, 19:13

Re: Audio choppy/delayed on Windows Host

Post by Skummer101 »

Logs attached.
Attachments
WorkUbuntu-2018-09-11-11-55-47.zip
(24.37 KiB) Downloaded 7 times
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Audio choppy/delayed on Windows Host

Post by mpack »

Skummer101 wrote: I have also tried the usual: Single CPU, Disabling I/O ACIP, Disabling Acceleration, Disabling 3D Acceleration, etc etc.
I'm not sure where you would have seen any of those recommended on this site for this problem, except perhaps the latter.

You should never disable IO APIC, especially after the OS has been installed. I'm not actually sure what "disabling acceleration" means, but if it means to disable VT-x then that too has never been suggested around here to my knowledge.

Reducing vCPU allocation from 2 to 1 (on a 2 core host) removes the possiblity of contention with the host, but it obviously doesn't give the guest any more CPU to play with. I'm afraid that the facts of life may come into play here: 2 cores doesn't allow two modern OS's to run as they like.

As regards acceleration, my heart always sinks when I see that an Intel Graphics chip set has been used for OpenGL. My experience with them is poor. If you aren't running 3D CAD inside the Ubuntu VM then I'd certainly consider turning that off.

Finally: the usual reason for crackly audio IMHO is that CPU is required to simulate an audio chipset, so a lack of CPU can cause glitchiness. You can't increase the number of cores available on your host, but you might be able to check guest and host for CPU hogs.
Skummer101
Posts: 4
Joined: 11. Sep 2018, 19:13

Re: Audio choppy/delayed on Windows Host

Post by Skummer101 »

For your final recommendation; I am not sure what I am suppose to gleam from this. The audio has an issue regardless of workload on the host or the guest. (Technically; this box is mostly idle) This occurs on Windows guests as well as the Linux ones on this host (only I am not concerned with the Windows guests) Further more; the issue does not occur on a Linux host with a Linux guest (or Windows guest) that has much more contention than this one; more to the point; my Linux host runs between 50% and 100% CPU and the last thing it does is cause the audio to sketch.

Will this issue actually be addressed or did I just get a "my grandma likes purple" response?
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Audio choppy/delayed on Windows Host

Post by mpack »

You determine workload by looking at the process stats, e.g. task manager in a Windows host. Understand also that I/O in a VM translates into CPU on the host.
Skummer101 wrote: Will this issue actually be addressed or did I just get a "my grandma likes purple" response?
I have no idea what color my grandma likes (she died some years back), and I have no idea if the sound quality will be addressed: probably not, unless a paying customer pays for a fix.

These are user to user forums by the way, so asking me what plans the devs have is not going to be fruitful!
Skummer101
Posts: 4
Joined: 11. Sep 2018, 19:13

Re: Audio choppy/delayed on Windows Host

Post by Skummer101 »

User to user eh? Well that makes sense. Don't quit your day job; if you put as much effort into bagging groceries as you do trolling people on this forum you will go far...
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Audio choppy/delayed on Windows Host

Post by mpack »

Well, you just earned a one week ban. See ya.
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